[Marketing] Ideas / Plan

[Alishams Hassam]

Hello All,

Firstly note that I am not a marketing expert by any means. I only wish to
throw ideas out there and implement what I have time for. If there are any
marketing experts on the list (heck, if you're even just interested),
please speak up! The only experience you really need is the ability to
write in your native language. I'm only familiar with English sources but
anything will work. Let's coordinate efforts on the wiki, I'm sure Openmoko
won't mind us piggybacking off their wiki ;p
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04

Things to mention:

1. The GTA04 *requires* an FR / NEO1974.
This should serve as a request to get people who have these collecting
dust, selling them online. Maybe this should be made more explicit?

2. The GTA04 has vastly improved on every area of the FR.

3. The GTA04 is made in a proper factory in the EU, and of quality parts,
in small runs - hence the price tag.
This will appeal to those of us who want things done right, not cheap.

4. Though there are non-free chunks, harm has been reduced as much as
possible.
Talking about how the wifi firmware has been isolated so it cannot
interfere with the O/S is a great example.

Areas to Attack:

1. Online and print magazines, news websites:

We need to get the word out about the GTA04. I find myself agreeing with
the claim that he GTA04 isn't well known about. This appeared on Slashdot
early this month
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/01/1910213/openmokos-freerunner-rises-from-the-ashesNo
mention of a pre-order. There was an article in late July on the Salon
blog: http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/
<http://blog.slyon.de/2011/07/26/openmoko-gta04-is-getting-reality/%20>
Phornix <http://www.phoronix.com/> also did an
article<http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTAzNDE>on
Openmoko just a few days ago, but only one line about the GTA04 :<
People are not excited, so let's make some noise! There are many other tech
news sites out there. Ars Technica <http://arstechnica.com/>comes to mind,
Lifehacker <http://lifehacker.com/> and Make <http://makezine.com/> would
get a kick out of the board switching procedure, Wired is an older popular
magazine, Phoronix <http://www.phoronix.com/>  I'm sure will do one focused
on the GTA04 and 2600 <http://www.2600.com/>for the geeks who like print
(someone please write a cool article for those guys - I promise you they'll
publish it)! Jeez, I almost forgot to mention http://lwn.net/

Traditionally a press release is sent out. I've never written one before
and don't particularly want to start with this. Is there anyone who has
written one before?

2. Mailing lists of FOSS projects:

This area cannot be done with a press release blast. Well it can, but I
don't think the subscribers will appreciate spam. Ideally each of us can
write a post about the GTA04 on any other FOSS lists we are on. I'll get
the ball rolling with a post to the Debian user list soon.The other big
relevant list to hit is the LXDE related mailing lists: lxde-list <
lxde-list at lists.sourceforge.net>, lubuntu-desktop <
lubuntu-desktop at lists.launchpad.net> Plasma active could be another one,
assuming it runs on the hardware, as with gnome-shell
gnome-shell-list at gnome.org

Let's get a list of mailings lists going on a wiki page.

3. Free Geeks

Free Geek's are organizations dedicated to ethical recycling. They are all
independently run so let's gather a list of each one's main mailing list
and start a discussion. Starting points include how replacing a board is
much more ecological than full new cell phone. The challenges with such an
approach, and perhaps how FOSS helps to ensure old devices see much more
support than their counterparts. I'll be updating the wiki with some
adresses as I collect them. For now, Free Geek Vancouver:
fg-general at lists.freegeekvancouver.org

4. Hack Spaces

Hackers love linux and tinkering! We can organize with Hack Spaces to help
less hardware oriented users like myself with supervision/teaching of the
board swap. I'll also be adding them to the wiki, please help collect
addresses if you're too shy to post. Vancouver Hack Space:
vhs-general at lists.hackspace.ca

5. LUGS

Linux User Groups are *not* dead. They're less active than they used to be,
however at Linux Con North America, the president of the CLUG (Calgary
LUG), gave a speech and is trying to reinvigorate things. This is usually
full of people who have disposable income and love to have cool geeky
things. The VanLUG address vanlug at robomod.net

6. Kickstarter / similar services

Perhaps funding for a case for the phones can come form these?

Phew, that's all I can think of for now. I'll be updating
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04 as time permits. Please reply
to the thread, submit ideas, constructive criticism, or just show you're
listening!
<http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Marketing_GTA04>
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